Until You Find Your Way Back
by imgoddamnpluckyremember
Summary: Misty Day is trapped in Hell and the only person capable of saving her is the Supreme.
1. Chapter 1

The morning sun flooded the room, white and plain, but somehow warm. There was a homey feeling to this place-so comforting and known. She kept her eyes closed a little longer, stretched herself slowly and rolled quietly on her side. Her fingers searched until they found the hand they were looking for, and she laced her hand with the other. Pieces of a puzzle that fit so well together.

She opened her eyes slowly and smiled. It was nice to watch her sleep, she always seemed to smile a little like her dreams were perpetually sweet. Delia wanted to run her fingers through the fluffy golden waves of Misty's hair, but it would ruin the moment. She'd wake up and it would all be over, but she inched a bit closer, drinking in the smell of her-like earth and rain.

At last her eyes fluttered open, steely blue and tired, but lovely as always. "What are you looking at?" she asked softly, still sleepy.

Delia considered telling her about what it was when she slept that was so gratifying to watch. So lovely and pure, like watching a child sleep. But she said nothing. She wanted to keep it private. A special part of Misty that no one need know about. "Nothing," she whispered, kissing her gently.

"Cordelia?" The voice seemed so distant. The girls knew better than to disturb her...

Her focus returned to Misty, suddenly looking desperate. "Please don't go," she begged.

"Go? I'm not going anywhere. Where would I go?"

"Don't leave me!" She was shrieking, her grip on Delia's hand so tight it almost hurt.

"I'm not leaving, come here..." She tried to pull Misty closer, but the force of her hand on Misty's back seemed to cause her to crumble. "No...NO!"

"Please, I need you, don't leave me!" Misty was grabbing for her as if her life depended on it.

"Stay with me, stay with me, come on!" She was turning to ash again.

"Cordelia!" There was a knock on the door.

"Help me!" Misty gave an awful, painful shriek before the rest of her faded into dust.

Delia jarred awake, sweating, panting. She looked to the space beside her, empty now, and tore back the blankets, searching for some trace of Misty, but there was none to be found. Her heart beat a little faster. There was another knock on the door.

"_Cordelia!"_ Queenie. It was only Queenie. She stood and slipped into the white silk robe at the foot of the bed before answering the door.

"Shit, you don't look so good," Queenie observed when Delia finally opened the door. "You missed breakfast."

She had a feeling Queenie didn't come up to wake her over breakfast. "I'll be down in a moment. I need to get dressed."

"Are...are you alright?" Queenie hesitated. "You were screaming."

Delia's cheeks flushed. "I..."

"It's Misty. Isn't it?" Queenie asked, again hesitant. She avoided too much eye contact.

Rather than lie, she sighed and quietly nodded. "Yes." She felt like a child again, embarrassed. She hugged herself tightly trying to squeeze out her insecurities as if she were only a wet rag.

"You shouldn't blame yourself for that. There's nothing anyone could've done. We all knew what we were getting into."

"She didn't want it." Cordelia said after a moment, her eyes searched the floor. "During the Sacred Taking... She said she didn't want it. I suspect she never did. Why did we force her?" She turned into the room on the verge of tears, unwilling to let Queenie see her cry.

"It's not your fault. I think she could've done it. Made it back. But she didn't know what she was getting herself into. None of us did, I think."

Delia sighed, suddenly exhausted by the topic. "I'll be down in a minute. Please gather the rest of the coven in the sitting room."

Queenie paused at the door, watching Cordelia move toward the window before she closed the door and returned to the first floor to organize the members of their coven.

But in truth, Cordelia's heart was aching. Because she had a chance to save Misty, to teach her, to be with her. But that opportunity was gone. She didn't share it with Zoe or with Queenie, but she knew what had happened.

Misty Day was trapped in hell. And the Supreme was going to have to get her out.


	2. Chapter 2

"You can't keep doing this, it's crazy!" Zoe urged. She'd watched over Cordelia as she performed descensum nearly a dozen times, and Queenie had done the same, but hell was person-specific and she'd never managed to breech into Misty's.

"I have to. I have to find her. She's trapped in hell-_her _hell."

"How are you going to get there if it's hers? You don't even know where she could be."

"I have to try. We're her only hope."

Classes, for the most part, had been dismissed. Queenie was finishing a lesson on the history of voodoo downstairs while Zoe and Cordelia worked upstairs. Misty's things, once packed in a box at the back of Delia's closet were now spread across her bed. That earthy smell of fresh soil lingered in each of Misty's gauzy shawls, mixed with the smell of leaves after rainfall. Ambrosial, she thought, but not the point.

"What are you going to do? Conjure her up? This isn't an episode of Charmed."

"I need quiet," Delia snapped, concentrating as her hands hovered over the objects. She reached out for a shawl, feeling its fibers between her fingers, the concentration pure. Somewhere she could hear Misty screaming faintly, the sound of her crying, begging someone. She closed her eyes and brought the shawl to her nose. "Where are you?"

Delia placed the shawl aside, grazing over other items with care. And finally something seemed to click.

She was walking down a long hallway lined with lockers, the word "school" registering in her mind, although the only schools she had ever seen had been on television. It was dark and she felt sick to her stomach as she continued on. She wasn't sorry in the least that this had never been her experience. Somewhere up ahead she could hear a scream, followed by sobs. Delia ran down the corridor. "One more time. Come on. Where are you?"

She didn't have to wait long. Up ahead to her right was a class room, she peered in through the window and watched with horror.

"If you won't dissect a dead frog, then you'll dissect a live one!" The teacher forced Misty's hand down. She dropped something and with shaking hands revived the creature again. She looked pale and sickly. Broken.

Cordelia pounded on the door but it didn't make a difference.

She snapped back to reality where Zoe was shaking her. "What did you see? Did you find her?"

"Yes I found her," Delia replied, her voice trembling. "There's no more time to waste. I have to go to her. Tonight. Send Queenie up immediately, I'm going to need her help."

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Zoe whispered.

"You didn't see her in there," Delia whispered, thinking about how Zoe had come back during the Seven Wonders, her personal hell so childlike and so...immature, to some extent. Zoe was blinded by good intentions, despite her unyielding power. She could envision the girl carrying on her torch one day, but she had yet a long way to go. "I have to go to her and I'm not waiting anymore."


End file.
